Evaluating the Quality of Complementary Medicine Information on the Internet
Author Information
Author(s): Matthew Breckons, Ray Jones, Jenny Morris, Janet Richardson
Primary Institution: University of Plymouth
Hypothesis
We aimed to review available evaluation instruments to assess their performance when used by a researcher to evaluate websites containing information on complementary medicine and breast cancer.
Conclusion
Evaluation instruments offer gateway providers a method to assess websites, with fair agreement between most available instruments.
Supporting Evidence
- A total of 39 instruments were identified, 12 of which met the inclusion criteria.
- When applied to 12 websites, there was agreement of the rank order of the sites with 10 of the instruments.
- Instruments varied in the range of criteria they assessed and in their ease of use.
- Some instruments were easier to use than others, but these were not necessarily the instruments most widely used to date.
Takeaway
This study looked at tools to help people check if health websites about complementary medicine are good or bad, and found that some tools work better than others.
Methodology
The study reviewed 39 evaluation instruments, assessing 12 websites using these tools and comparing their rankings.
Potential Biases
Possible interobserver variation may mean that some instruments eligible for inclusion may have been missed.
Limitations
Selection of instruments and website ratings were performed by only one researcher, which may introduce bias.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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